A Word Not Spoken
by AlexRawrMonster
Summary: In a pre Boogeyman world, Jack finds himself full of new options in fulfilling his life as a winter spirit, when the world decides to throw a little curve ball his way.
1. Prologue

Rapunzel looked on tearfully at the mangled mess of a man she had married, if only for a little while. Her heart raced in panic as she realized there was no hope for this man, that he was too far gone and that saving him would be improbable. There was a cart busted into splinters, a black thoroughbred horse next to a building nursing its leg whilst sprawled out on the ground, and then there was Flynn. Flynn was flat on his back; his face tear stained, he was breathing slowly and heavily, wincing with every breath. Rapunzel could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks as she watched this man groan in agony. Her mind was shutting down but it was obvious to her that there was a crash, that Flynn must have broken ribs, and that he was slowly but inevitably dying right in front of her eyes. She couldn't let her tears touch him, healing powers could only save people to a certain extent, and at this point it would only sustain his agony a short while longer.

"I'm here, I'm here." She whispered, holding his cheek.

"Make the pain stop." He whispered, she took great care in removing his shirt; his skin was purplish blue which meant there was heavy internal bleeding,

"I'll make the pain Flynn, I promise, just close your eyes", she said, doing the best she could to stabilize her voice. He slowly shut his eyes; she brushed his hair gently out of his eyes, and kissed his forehead.

"I love you Flynn." She whispered,

"I love you too, Rapunzel." He choked out, starting to cough up blood. His heart rate sped up and she started to cry heavier, holding his hand. He looked up again, "Rapunzel" he whispered, slowly releasing the breath he used to say her name fade off his lips, never to replace it with another.

"Flynn" she choked out, collapsing onto his chest and letting sobs rip through hers. She kissed his lips, caressing his cheek with her hand before heading up to the palace to tell her parents what had happened. He had only gone to get her a belated wedding present.


	2. Chapter 1

Jack watched on from the rooftops as the children danced about in the snowfall, smiling to his self because he had given them this and now they knew that. He grabbed his staff and flew down to them, joining in the snowball fight that was beginning to take place, no proper teams just all out war tell the death. He flew in corkscrews, twisting and throwing and lobbing and grabbing and forming, ice morphing in his hand into little balls of victory waiting to happen.

He laughed as the kids played, eventually flying off into the forest to spread more snow to the little town. He swam through the air, sending blizzard winds through the town, snow fell like dandruff from the creepy kid who eats glue in the back of the classroom. He could just feel the power flowing through him. He froze their little world, eventually coming across a field. He flew to the ground, holding his staff firmly in both hands he hit the end of it on the soft earth, watching the ice spread across this little meadow. He looked up, now noticing a tall and lean tower in the backdrop of the clearing that had a hole busted into the bottom of it. Curiosity piqued his interests as he wandered over to the tower and walked inside, finding a large decrepit staircase that lead up. He walked in to a large room made of cobblestone, light only by the grey sky outside. He noticed there was a girl in the middle curled up into a ball, he cleared his throat and she looked up.

"What are you doing in my tower?" she asked indignantly,

"Sorry but your tower was just here." He said, feeling a bit awkward about the whole thing.

"Well then I suggest you mind your own business."

"This place _is _my business. The whole world is my business."

"And what makes you so high and mighty?"  
"That would be the man on the moon."

"What is this some kind of joke?"

"Only if you want it to be sweetheart, I could do this all day." He said, leaning up against the tower wall.

"Just leave me be." She hissed

"Suit yourself." He said, stepping through the window.

"WAIT" she cried out, running to the window.

"Yes?" he asked, impatience rampant in his tone

"You fly?" she asked, utterly bewildered.

"Um yeah." He said, floating back down to the ground.

"How?" she called down

"Thought you wanted me gone?"  
"Come back I changed my mind." He obliged, walking back up the stairs.

"Yes?" he asked, finally getting a good look at the girl, she was short with shoulder length brown hair, and looked as if she hadn't slept in a month. Her green eyes had bags below them and her complexion was absolutely pallid.

"How is it you fly?"

"Name is Jack; Jack Frost, maybe you've heard of me?"

"Oh, I've heard of you yes, you kill the flowers…" she said, her voice fading to absolute silence.

"So what? They grow back every year."

"So they are beautiful and don't deserve to be killed every year."

"Whatever you say princess."

"You know who I am?"  
"What? No? That's a figure of speech? Why? Who are you?"

"None of your business." She said, her words cut like metal.

"Sorry" he said, the sarcasm more thick than maple syrup oozing off his tongue.

"Just go."

"Fine." And with that he jumped out the window, Rapunzel's eyes widened as she ran to the window in horror, just to see him fly off into the wind.


	3. Chapter 2

Jack rode the wind past that strange tower and into the night, his eyes wandered through the trees until he found one that looked like it would make for a good place to rest. He landed in a small cave off the Cliffside of the Mortmain Mountains, remembering to watch out for the snow gnats. He curled up in the corner and started fabricating ice crystals over the rocks above him after icing the cave mostly shut to prevent the gnats. He closed his eyes, falling asleep to the lull of the wind against the jagged rocks just outside his little sanctuary.

He awoke to a crick in his neck and a chill running through his body like a current. It didn't bother him; things like this just didn't anymore. He stood up, breaking through his wall of ice and walking out onto the mountain. The jagged peaks were intense to look at; he jumped off the side, letting the wind catch him and begin pulling him forward. He whooped with joy as he summer salted through the air. Grasping his staff firmly he stood up on it and began surfing the air. He dove down, landing gently beside a stream. It was full of ash, not a problem but the fish were almost coughing. He kept walking, finding a burnt down little shack at the top of the pathway. He looked inside briefly; the entire place was in ruin except a fridge in the corner. He flew up again, up over the waterfall that was flowing down the Cliffside next to the little shack. He flew off again, getting away from the mountain range and heading back to the kingdom of Corona where he was supposed to be causing winter to begin. He flew back out to the sea, crossing it in a mere hour and hitting the city with a slight dusting of snow over the course of the next few hours. He ended up back at that tower; he peered in, looking to find the girl still there, sitting in the middle of the room in a crumpled heap on the floor.

"Why do you lay here by yourself day after day?" he asked gently, getting down beside her. She looked up silently,

"Because I have nowhere else to go," she said, tears accumulating in her large green eyes.

"What do you mean nowhere?"  
"I'm going to trust you, okay? I was a girl, I thought nothing could go wrong, and then it did. My husband was trampled in an accident involving a carriage. I was the only one there at the death and because the kingdom knew I was raised by an evil witch and they thought that it was me, that, that I killed Flynn. They convicted me of murder, and sent me to the prison. My parents did all they could to sneak me out of the prison, but that was all they could do, they had to send me away because the kingdom wouldn't accept me considering my mother had just given birth a month or so before to my new baby brother so it's not like the needed an heir. So they told me I had to go, and that for my own sake I could not come back, I've been up in this tower by myself ever since."

"There's no way to prove your innocence?"

"Nobody was there." She said glumly.

"I'm sorry."

"So who are you then?" she asked, her eyes seemed sunken in and she looked rather pale, he didn't want to aggravate her.

"Well, you can see me, so you must believe in me. My name is Jack Frost."

"Oh, and who is that?"

"You don't know me? Then how can you see me?"

"I am the daughter of the kingdom of Corona, and I channel energy from Sol." she said,

"You get power from the sun?" she nodded, "No wonder you can see me, my power is from the man in the moon."

"So, who _are_ you Jack Frost?"

"I am winter." He said.


	4. Chapter 3

"What do you mean you're winter?" she asked, looking lost.

"I'm Jack Frost, I bring winter so to speak." He said, using his powers to form a layer of ice on the ground, "it's why I didn't know you were a wanted fugitive when I got here yesterday; I'm not from here, I'm from everywhere."

"I see." She said, standing up and slipping on the ice. She stayed on her back, looking up at him from the floor. "And what is it you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you I just have places I'm supposed to bring winter to and this kingdom is in the middle of the area I'm working on."

"I see." She repeated, looking up at him. "Can I come with you?"  
"Why would you want to? You don't know me?"

"I spent 18 years trapped in this tower; I don't want to spend the rest of my life stuck here." She argued.

"Fine, but I'll pick you up after I finish with this whole winter business." She agreed, and they parted ways. He flew through the air, spreading ice, snow and the like throughout the Kingdom of Corona. He returned to the tower at dusk, Rapunzel was once again in a crumpled little ball in the center of the room.

"Do you always sit like that?"  
"Like what?" she asked, her voice sounded dead.

"Like you've got nothing left to live for."

"I don't always sit like that." She sat up, "shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's go, I take it you can't fly then?"

"Should I be able to?"

"Just get on my back, we're going to have a little fun." She complied, and with that he flew off. She was clutching his back like there was no tomorrow,

"JACK could you SLOW DOWN?" she screeched, he snickered but complied. She slowly began to fall asleep on his back, and the next thing she knew they were in a cave somewhere. "Jack, where are we?"

"This is Chthonic Cave; we are on the Mortmain Mountains, near the peak of Mount Fraught."

"Why are we in a cave in the middle of you bringing winter?"She asked.

"Why not?" he asked, "I sealed off the entry so there won't be any snow gnats."

"Because it's c-cold in here?" she asked, starting to shiver.

"Oh." He said, "Right, traveling with humans…"

"What do you mean _traveling with humans_ Jack? You aren't human?"

"Not anymore.

"I can't believe this." She said, getting more frustrated.

"Sorry, I'd try and keep you warm but I can only make things cold." He said, edging away from her.

"W-why are we out here anyways?"

"I like getting away from the cities and towns and coming to a place of just snow. It's like I belong here."

"Oh." She said, curling up into a ball.

"Did you bring anything with you?"

"Just what's in the bag I was carrying, so not much." She said, emptying the contents onto the floor. Toiletries, a small portion of bread, some paints, paper, and a painting of a lizard.

"What's with the lizard?"  
"That's Pascal, I told him to stay behind to like after my brother Jonathan."

"Oh, I'm sorry." She just looked at him, shivering a little worse than before. "Here," he said, taking off his sweatshirt and handing it to her,

"Don't you get cold?"

"No I don't so just put it on okay?" she complied again. "Blue looks good on you." He noted. She just looked at him, pulling her knees up under the sweatshirt. She scooted over to the cave wall and positioned herself in the corner, closing her eyes and beginning to fall asleep. He closed his eyes too, trying to fall asleep, but looking at her it was really obvious something was wrong. Just the way her eyes were shut as if something was haunting her seemed out of place.

The next morning Rapunzel awoke to a dead looking Jack passed out on the cave floor, a blanket around her, and a thermos next to the cave wall. She shook him awake and demanded an explanation.

"I went out last night to get this stuff, you just looked so cold and so I got a blanket, and that thermos has hot chocolate in it, not easy to get but hey I managed."

"Wow, thank you." She said, pulling the blanket further over her shoulders and grabbing the warm thermos.

"You're welcome."


	5. Chapter 4

Rapunzel began sipping the lukewarm liquid, looking up at Jack as she did so.

"Thank you, you didn't have to do this."

"Yes I did, you were starting to shiver so badly I thought you'd get hypothermia and clearly I can't help with that."

"Right." She said, "Did you get breakfast?"

"Uh,"

"Don't you eat?"

"Well I _can_…"

"But you don't."

"Not usually. People generally can't see me, not humans anyways,

"What does that have to do with anything?"  
"They can't see me, so I don't just go steal their food. I play with kids, I'm not a thief."

"Oh." She said, setting down the thermos. The ground was rock and the icy temperature was pulsating through it like lightning, even with the blanket wrapped around her.

"You're still freezing." He noted; she just nodded.

"Alright we're heading back to your tower then."

"No."

"We'll figure out what to do from there okay?"

"You promise?"

"I promise." He said, opening up the cave. They walked out, he lifted her onto his back and they flew off again. He rode the wind as she clung tightly to his back, her arms wrapped around his chest.

Half way back home Jack began to falter, his exhaustion from the sleep loss the night before was wearing on his abilities. He soon came to find himself falling out of the sky.

"Jack, can you stop that?" Rapunzel asked nervously,

"Sorry, I'm just exhausted…" he said, nodding off again

"JACK!" Rapunzel screeched, waking him up once again

"What? I, sorry Rapunzel." He said sleepily, shaking his head, "flying is a second nature to me, sleep flying not so much, I'd better land…" he said, heading down into a thicket of trees. He hit the ground hard, Rapunzel was thrown off and he somersaulted straight into a tree. "Ow" he groaned, sprawling out on the grass.

"JACK ARE YOU OKAY?" Rapunzel shrieked, running over to him,

"No." he winced, Rapunzel then started crying,

"Oh this is all my fault, I shouldn't've made you come back, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." He winced, her eyes lit up,

"Wait! I can fix this!" she said, concentrating her energy and letting her tears fall onto him.

"Uh, Rapunzel? Are you okay?" he asked, looking at her completely lost

"Nothing is happening? Why isn't anything happening? You should feel better? Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Jack they were right, the theorists. They, they said that when I cried on Jack that it wasn't an extension of my sun powers it WAS my power, that it was the last act of healing magic I would perform," she ran her hand through her light brown hair, "Jack, I can't heal you, my powers are gone." She whispered, shrinking down, she felt so small.

"It's okay Rapunzel, I heal fast."

"You do?"  
"Comes with being winter spirit." He said, wincing as he sat up, "now here none of that, it's not your fault." He said, wiping the tears off her cheeks.

"Your hands are so cold." She said, grabbing them in hers trying to warm them up.

"It's part of the job."

"Do you _feel_ cold?"

"Not anymore than you do. Probably less actually since you're next to me and I'm what you consider cold."

"Oh. Strange."

"You may want to take a load off we aren't going anywhere tonight." She nodded and sat back against a tree, "So, Rapunzel," he said, her name pliant and springy on his tongue, "you're a rogue princess widow, why does it feel like there's more to you than that?"

"Because the mind is full of secrets Jack, just waiting to be discovered by someone else. What's your story?"

"I woke up from this pool of ice, the moon brought me out, I uh just sort of was meant to fly around and make things cold."

"You didn't live before that?"

"Not that I can remember."

"I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's pretty cool being winter." She went and sat beside him,

"Seems like it'd be a lonely existence, you said people usually don't see you…"

"They don't, but that's not so bad, snow wars with kids are great."

"But they can't talk to you? Or thank you? Or even look at you to acknowledge you're there? Doesn't that get, unbearable?" he grimaced,

"Well, it's no picnic, but it's okay." He said, not looking her in the eye.

"Is life really worth settling for okay?"


End file.
